Sol 6.1

  1. أليلتنا بين العتابين والعذرِ

    أليلة عذر كنت أم بيضة العقر

    O our night, between two reproaches and pardon,

    were you a night of pardon, or the barren hen’s lone egg?

  2. نعمنا وبتنا بين فاطمتي هوى

    كتوأم لَوْز بين مِلحفتي قشر

    We delighted and lay between love’s two Fatimas,

    like twin almonds between two coverings of shell.

  3. نصعد أنفاساً نقطع أنفساً

    إذا علت ارتدت إلى ثُغَر النحر

    We sent breaths upward, cutting our souls apart;

    whenever they rose, they returned to the hollows of the throat.

  4. ولما انتظمنا بين ضم وخلوة

    رأى اللّه شفعاً كان أوحد من وتر

    And when we joined together in an embrace and seclusion,

    God saw a pair more truly one than one alone.

  5. خرقنا لها حجب البراقع والفرى

    جميعاً وأسبلنا ستائر من صبر

    For her we tore through the barriers of face-veils and furs,

    all of them, and lowered curtains of patience.

  6. ولما حبانا الصبح برد نسيمه

    تحيز عن حجري ودمعته تجري

    And when dawn bestowed on us its breeze’s coolness,

    he withdrew from my lap, his tear flowing.

  7. فقلت له يا قرة العين ما لنا

    تباشير فجر ما بدا لك أم هجر

    I said to him, “O delight of my eye, what have we here—

    is it dawn’s first light that you see, or parting?”

  8. ومن يصحب الأيام يشرب سلافها

    ويشرق بها إن الخمار من الخمر

    Whoever keeps company with the days drinks their choicest wine,

    and chokes on it: indeed, the hangover comes from wine.

  9. وشاردةٍ إن أكثبت فجديرة

    وإلا فقد أبليت في طلبي عذري

    And a fugitive—if it comes near, it is worth pursuing;

    otherwise, I have left no room for blame in my pursuit.

  10. وكنت إذا ما الليل ماج ظلامه

    جعلت على تياره حسرتي جسري

    And whenever the night’s darkness surged,

    I would make my sorrow my bridge across its current,

  11. بمشرفة كالطود دائمة السرى

    كأني على الشعرى بها أو على شعري

    on a towering she-camel, mountain-like, ever traveling by night,

    as though, on her, I rode Sirius—or my own poetry.

  12. كأن الفلا صدري كأني وناقتي

    خيال به تسري كأن الدجى فقري

    As though the wilderness were my breast, as though I and my she-camel

    were a phantom passing through it, as though darkness were my poverty.

  13. كأني على قصر بها وكأنها

    إذا وخدت تحتي على كنَفي صقر

    As though on her I were atop a palace, and as though she,

    when she strode beneath me, rode on a falcon’s two wings.

  14. وقد عجبت شم الهضاب فما درت

    أبالعيس نسري أم بأجنحة النَّسر

    And the lofty hills marveled, not knowing

    whether we traveled by night on pale camels or on the vulture’s wings.

  15. هو السير دأباً أو تبلغنا النوى

    حمى ذمة الشيخ الجليل أبي نصر

    It is ceaseless travel, until the long journey brings us

    to the refuge of the noble elder Abu Nasr’s protection.

  16. إذا بلغت باب الوزير ركابنا

    فلا وطئت أرض الخصيب ولا مصر

    When our riding camels reach the vizier’s door,

    may they never tread al-Khasib’s land, nor Egypt.

  17. أقيسُ أبا نصر بأيٍّ أقيسه

    أبالبحر أم بالدهر أم بسنا الفجر

    Shall I compare Abu Nasr? To what shall I compare him?

    To the sea, or to time, or to dawn’s radiance?

  18. نعم يا وزير المشرقين ملكتني

    فرأيك في أن لا تبيع بلا سعر

    Yes, O vizier of the two Easts, you have taken possession of me;

    so see that you do not sell me for nothing.

  19. طويت للقياك الملوك وإنما

    طويتهم منهم ومنك على خبر

    I passed over kings to meet you, and I only

    passed them over with knowledge of them and of you.

  20. ولولا اشتعال النار في يابس الغضا

    لقلت وهبني لا أقول ولا أدري

    And were it not for fire blazing in dry ghada wood,

    I would have said—yet suppose I neither speak nor know:

  21. أيا رب أندى فرعه المجد فارعه

    ولا تخل ذاك الصدر من ذلك الصدر

    O Lord, glory has bedewed his bough; so tend him,

    and leave not that seat of honor without that man of honor.